Alaskan Holiday
Page 18

Alicia shook her head. “Would you kindly stop? That isn’t what I meant. Josie doesn’t need gifts. She needs my brother.”
I wasn’t sure what my sister was getting at. I wanted to go see Josie in the worst way. I would be in Seattle this very minute if she wasn’t involved with the restaurant 24/7.
“Took me three tries to get Alicia to agree to marry me, you know.”
I was familiar with their courtship. Alicia and Drew met when she was in college studying criminology. Drew was an electrician doing work on campus in the bookstore where Alicia worked part-time. A few days after they met, he’d asked her out and she’d accepted. At the end of their first date, he proposed. Alicia had been shocked and immediately turned him down. Drew was persistent, though. Two months later he asked her to marry him again, and for the second time, Alicia refused. He waited a year from the day they met and asked a third time. Alicia agreed. They were married three months later, and in the last ten years they’d had two children.
“You aren’t giving up on Josie, are you?” Drew inquired.
“No way,” I insisted. “She’s the one who walked away. She knows I’d marry her in a heartbeat. She needs to be the one to tell me when she’s ready. I’m not going to rush her.”
“Well, you could help push her along with her decision, don’t you realize?” Drew added, not letting up.
“Would you two stop trying to fix this thing between me and Josie?” I snapped, growing irritated. “Josie and I know what we want, and for now, I need to give her time.”
“Time? Really, Palmer? And how’s that working?” Alicia asked, assuming the role of Dr. Phil. She seemed to want to hammer away at my misery.
Drew shook his head, frustrated with me. “You love this woman or not?”
“I’m not in the habit of asking random women to marry me,” I returned sarcastically.
“Look at me, Palmer,” Alicia insisted. “I’m your sister. I know you better than anyone. You’re in love and you’re miserable. Josie’s in Seattle, and you’re in Ponder. You need to fix this.”
Alicia made it sound easy.
“I have to give Josie this chance to work with Chef Anton and run this new restaurant. It’s what she wants, it’s what she deserves, and I’m not taking that away from her. You want me to show her that I love her? Well, that’s how I’m doing it.”
My sister went quiet and I noticed Drew had as well. It seemed I’d finally reached them. Was I happy to be separated from Josie? No way. Did I think she was working too long and too hard? Yes. Did I miss our phone chats and extended text messages? More than I was willing to admit. But I couldn’t say or do anything until she made her decision. I’d give her a year, and if at the end of that time she was still happy with her life in Seattle, I’d cut my losses and move on. Until then, I clung to the hope that she would have a change of heart and marry me.
“You do love her,” Alicia said into the silence, as though she found it hard to believe. “You’re sincere.”
“Of course I am.” This was too important to mess up because I was impatient or unwilling to give Josie the time she needed.
“You could always beg,” Drew continued, sounding completely serious. “I would have bent down on both knees if it meant Alicia would agree to marry me.”
“You did get down on your knees, didn’t you?” I inquired.
“One knee,” Drew corrected. “If it had taken both knees, I would have gladly done it. Pride is important to a man, but it isn’t everything. When it comes to the right woman, a man needs to be willing to swallow his ego every now and then. Not often, mind you, but when the occasion calls for it.”
I chuckled, loving both my brother-in-law and sister, and grateful for their support.
* * *
—
Later we lingered around the table after sharing a delicious Thanksgiving dinner complete with turkey, stuffing, and all the fixings. We’d gone around the table and each shared what we were most grateful for in our lives that year, and I’d mentioned my family and friends, including Jack and Josie. Because Alicia had spent most of the day cooking, the rest of us went to the kitchen to wash the pots and pans and load the dishwasher.
“What are you the most thankful for, Uncle Palmer?” eight-year-old Andrew asked.
“You helping me with the dishes,” I joked, handing him a dishtowel.
“Are you ever going to get married?” little Katie asked. She was six, in first grade, and as cute as a button.
“I hope so,” I told her.
“I’d like a girl cousin, okay? Mom and Dad said I can’t have a baby sister, so I need you to get me one.”
I grinned. “I’ll do my best.” I could hardly wait to mention this to Josie. On second thought, maybe that wasn’t such a good idea.
Drew handed me the last of the pots he’d washed by hand. “The pressure is on,” my brother-in-law muttered under his breath. “Not only is Katie looking for a girl cousin, but your parents are looking for more grandchildren. The ball is in your court. Alicia and I have our family.”
I swatted the wet towel at his backside. “Josie has to agree to marry me first.”
“Will Josie be my aunt?” Andrew asked.
“I don’t know yet,” I told him, but if I had anything to say about it, then she would be, and soon.
After the dishes were dried and put away, we sat down in the living room, too full to consider pumpkin pie until later that evening. The kids were busy playing a board game, as they were allowed only a certain amount of time on their tablets each day. Sitting on the carpet in front of the fireplace, they involved Alicia in their fun.
Drew and I were caught up in watching the football game when he leaned over and said, “You need a plan, you realize.”
I glanced at him and assumed he was talking about Josie and me. “A plan,” I repeated. “What sort of plan?”
“To convince Josie to marry you.”
“Well, your plan took a while, right?”
“It did, but then, Alicia is stubborn.”
“Hey, I heard that!” my sister called from her position on the carpet with the two kids.
I grinned. Being stubborn was a family trait. “Not sure how having a set plan would work with Josie.” Pressuring her was the last thing I wanted to do.
The Seahawks scored a touchdown and Drew let out a loud whooping cheer, then added, “All I’m saying is you need to confront this thing with Josie as you would any problem. Have a plan and stick to it.”
I smiled. “Is that so?”
“Sure thing. My plan and my persistence paid off with Alicia.”
“Drew, I swear if you say another word,” my sister interjected, “I’m going to find an excuse to arrest you. Leave my brother be. He’s got this under control. Let him figure this out on his own without any help from you.”
Drew sighed dramatically. “Yes, dear.”
My sister tilted her head back and groaned. “You know I hate it when you say that.”
“Yes, my love.”
“Better.” Alicia got up from the floor and walked over to where Drew reclined in his chair and climbed into his lap. Looping her arms around his neck, she asked, “You know what I’m most grateful for this year?”
He arched his eyebrows. “Your romantic husband?”
“Guess again.”
“That it’s almost Christmas and you found me the perfect gift?”
“Wrong.”
“Okay.” Drew sighed. “I give up. Tell me what you’re most grateful for this year.”
“That my brother has finally fallen in love.”
“Aw, Sis,” I said, checking my phone, hoping to find a text message from Josie. My heart sank. There wasn’t one.
* * *
—
I waited until the football game was over and reached for my laptop to go online. Because we communicated daily, I hadn’t ever thought to look at Josie’s Facebook page, but seeing something new about her life might give me my “Josie fix.” I suppose this showed how desperate I was, but I didn’t care. I didn’t even know if she’d had any time to make posts since beginning work at the restaurant. Alicia happened to walk by, and she paused when she saw that I had logged on to Facebook.